Chapter II Company Profile

History of The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR)

Spanish Era

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Contador de' Resultas served as the Chief Royal
Accountant whose functions were similar to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. He
was the Chief Arbitrator whose decisions on financial matters were final except when
revoked by the Council of Indies. During these times, taxes that were collected from the
inhabitants varied from tribute or head tax of one gold maiz annually; tax on value of
jewelries and gold trinkets; indirect taxes on tobacco, wine, cockpits, burlas and powder.
From 1521 to 1821, the Spanish treasury had to subsidize the Philippines in the amount
of P 250,000.00 per annum due to the poor financial condition of the country, which can
be primarily attributed to the poor revenue collection system.

American Era

In the early American regime from the period 1898 to 1901, the country was ruled by
American military governors. In 1902, the first civil government was established under
William H. Taft. However, it was only during the term of second civil governor Luke E.
Wright that the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) was created through the passage of
Reorganization Act No. 1189 dated July 2, 1904. On August 1, 1904, the BIR was formally
organized and made operational under the Secretary of Finance, Henry Ide (author of the
Internal Revenue Law of 1904), with John S. Hord as the first Collector (Commissioner).
The first organization started with 69 employees, which consisted of a Collector, Vice-
Collector, one Chief Clerk, one Law Clerk, one Records Clerk and three (3) Division Chiefs.

Following the tenure of John S. Hord were three (3) more American collectors, namely:
Ellis Cromwell (1909-1912), William T. Holting (1912-1214) and James J. Rafferty (1914-
1918). They were all appointed by the Governor-General with the approval of the
Philippine Commission and the US President.

During the term of Collector Holting, the Bureau had its first reorganization on January
1, 1913 with the creation of eight (8) divisions, namely: 1) Accounting, 2) Cash, 3) Clerical,
4) Inspection, 5) Law, 6) Real Estate, 7) License and 8) Records. Collections by the Real
Estate and License Divisions were confined to revenue accruing to the City of Manila.
In line with the Filipinization policy of then US President McKinley, Filipino Collectors
were appointed. The first three (3) BIR Collectors were: Wenceslao Trinidad (1918-1922);
Juan Posadas, Jr. (1922-1934) and Alfredo Yatao (1934-1938).

On May 1921, by virtue of Act No. 299, the Real Estate, License and Cash Divisions were
abolished and their functions were transferred to the City ofManila. As a result of this
transfer, the Bureau was left with five (5) divisions, namely: 1) Administrative, 2) Law, 3)
Accounting, 4) Income Tax and 5) Inspection. Thereafter, the Bureau established the
following: 1) the Examiner's Division, formerly the Income Tax Examiner's Section which
was later merged with the Income Tax Division and 2) the Secret Service Section, which
handled the detection and surveillance activities but was later abolished on January 1,
1951. Except for minor changes and the creation of the Miscellaneous Tax Division in
1939, the Bureau's organization remained the same from 1921 to 1941.

In 1937, the Secretary of Finance promulgated Regulation No. 95, reorganizing the
Provincial Inspection Districts and maintaining in each province an Internal Revenue
Office supervised by a Provincial Agent.

Japanese Era

At the outbreak of World War II, under the Japanese regime (1942-1945), the Bureau was
combined with the Customs Office and was headed by a Director of Customs and Internal
Revenue.

Post War Era

On July 4, 1946, when the Philippines gained its independence from the United States,
the Bureau was eventually re-established separately. This led to a reorganization on
October 1, 1947, by virtue of Executive Order No. 94, wherein the following were
undertaken: 1) the Accounting Unit and the Revenue Accounts and Statistical Division
were merged into one; 2) all records in the Records Section under the Administrative
Division were consolidated; and 3) all legal work were centralized in the Law Division.

Revenue Regulations No. V-2 dated October 23, 1947 divided the country into 31
inspection units, each of which was under a Provincial Revenue Agent (except in certain
special units which were headed by a City Revenue Agent or supervisors for distilleries
and tobacco factories).

The second major reorganization of the Bureau took place on January 1, 1951 through the
passage of Executive Order No. 392. Three (3) new departments were created, namely: 1)
Legal, 2) Assessment and 3) Collection. On the latter part of January of the same year,
Memorandum Order No. V-188 created the Withholding Tax Unit, which was placed
under the Income Tax Division of the Assessment Department. Simultaneously, the
implementation of the withholding tax system was adopted by virtue of Republic Act (RA)
690. This method of collecting income tax upon receipt of the income resulted to the
collection of approximately 25% of the total income tax collected during the said period.

The third major reorganization of the Bureau took effect on March 1, 1954 through
Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO) No. 41. This led to the creation of the following
offices: 1) Specific Tax Division, 2) Litigation Section, 3) Processing Section and the 4)
Office of the City Revenue Examiner. By September 1, 1954, a Training Unit was created
through RMO No. V-4-47.

As an initial step towards decentralization, the Bureau created its first 2 Regional Offices
in Cebu and in Davao on July 20, 1955 per RMO No. V-536. Each Regional Office was
headed by a Regional Director, assisted by Chiefs of five (5) Branches, namely: 1) Tax
Audit, 2) Collection, 3) Investigation, 4) Legal and 5) Administrative. The creation of the
Regional Offices marked the division of the Philippine islands into three (3) revenue
regions.

The Bureau's organizational set-up expanded beginning 1956 in line with the
regionalization scheme of the government. Consequently, the Bureau's Regional Offices
increased to (8) eight and later into ten (10) in 1957. The Accounting Machine Branch was
also created in each Regional Office.

In January 1957, the position title of the head of the Bureau was changed from Collector
to Commissioner. The last Collector and the first Commissioner of the BIR was Jose
Aranas.

A significant step undertaken by the Bureau in 1958 was the establishment of the Tax
Census Division and the corresponding Tax Census Unit for each Regional Office. This
was done to consolidate all statements of assets, incomes and liabilities of all individual
and resident corporations in the Philippines into a National Tax Census.

To strictly enforce the payment of taxes and to further discourage tax evasion, RA No. 233
or the Rewards Law was passed on June 19, 1959 whereby informers were rewarded the
25% equivalent of the revenue collected from the tax evader.

In 1964, the Philippines was re-divided anew into 15 regions and 72 inspection districts.
The Tobacco Inspection Board and Accountable Forms Committee were also created
directly under the Office of the Commissioner.

Marcos Administration

The appointment of Misael Vera as Commissioner in 1965 led the Bureau to a "new
direction" in tax administration. The most notable programs implemented were the "Blue
Master Program" and the "Voluntary Tax Compliance Program". The first program was
adopted to curb the abuses of both the taxpayers and BIR personnel, while the second
program was designed to encourage professionals in the private and government sectors
to report their true income and to pay the correct amount of taxes.
It was also during Commissioner Vera's administration that the country was further
subdivided into 20 Regional Offices and 90 Revenue District Offices, in addition to the
creation of various offices which included the Internal Audit Department (replacing the
Inspection Department), Administrative Service Department, International Tax Affairs
Staff and Specific Tax Department.

Providing each taxpayer with a permanent Tax Account Number (TAN) in 1970 not only
facilitated the identification of taxpayers but also resulted to faster verification of tax
records. Similarly, the payment of taxes through banks (per Executive Order No. 206), as
well as the implementation of the package audit investigation by industry are considered
to be important measures which contributed significantly to the improved collection
performance of the Bureau.

The proclamation of Martial Law on September 21, 1972 marked the advent of the New
Society and ushered in a new approach in the developmental efforts of the government.
Several tax amnesty decrees issued by the President were promulgated to enable erring
taxpayers to start anew. Organization-wise, the Bureau had also undergone several
changes during the Martial Law period (1972-1980).

In 1976, under Commissioner Efren Plana's administration, the Bureau's National Office
transferred from the Finance Building in Manila to its own 12-storey building in Quezon
City, which was inaugurated on June 3, 1977. It was also in the same year that President
Marcos promulgated the National Internal Revenue Code of 1977, which updated the 1934
Tax Code.

On August 1, 1980, the Bureau was further reorganized under the administration of
Commissioner Ruben Ancheta. New offices were created and some organizational units
were relocated for the purpose of making the Bureau more responsive to the needs of the
taxpaying public.

Aquino Administration

After the People's Revolution in February 1986, a renewed thrust towards an effective tax
administration was pursued by the Bureau. "Operation: Walang Lagay" was launched to
promote the efficient and honest collection of taxes.

On January 30, 1987, the Bureau was reorganized under the administration of
Commissioner Bienvenido Tan, Jr. pursuant to Executive Order (EO) No. 127. Under the
said EO, two (2) major functional groups headed and supervised by a Deputy
Commissioner were created, and these were: 1) the Assessment and Collection Group;
and 2) the Legal and Internal Administration Group.

With the advent of the value-added tax (VAT) in 1988, a massive campaign program
aimed to promote and encourage compliance with the requirements of the VAT was
launched. The adoption of the VAT system was one of the structural reforms provided for
in the 1986 Tax Reform Program, which was designed to simplify tax administration and
make the tax system more equitable. It was also in 1988 that the Revenue Information
Systems Services Inc. (RISSI) was abolished and transferred back to the BIR by virtue of
a Memorandum Order from the Office of the President dated May 24, 1988. This transfer
had implications on the delivery of the computerization requirements of the Bureau in
relation to its functions of tax assessment and collection.

The entry of Commissioner Jose Ong in 1989 saw the advent of the "Tax Administration
Program" which is the embodiment of the Bureau's mission to improve tax collection and
simplify tax administration. The Program contained several tax reform and enhancement
measures, which included the use of the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)

MISSION
We collect taxes through just enforcement of tax laws for nation-building and the
upliftment of the lives of Filipinos

VISION
The Bureau of Internal Revenue is an institution of service excellence and integrity.